The Easter Vigil: Doing Good Together

Trent Tate’s Fireflies out of the Bottle

Under the burden, the cynicism, and the pace of modern life, Passover and Holy Week interrupt us with timely “signals of transcendence” that call us to stand together, across our various political, cultural, and religious divides. We are beautiful, if broken and vulnerable beings with a profound need for liberation and resurrection—and each other.

The women who arrived looking for the dead body of Jesus on that first Sunday morning were told he was not there, that he had been raised, that he was alive and had gone on ahead of them to Galilee; there they would see him, just as he had said. Amazed and terrified, they fled from the tomb and told no one what had happened. In the original version of Mark’s Gospel, the story simply ends right there. It leaves the story open-ended, inviting the reader to wonder about and puzzle over its meaning. “He is not here, he has been raised,” we hear. He is not here; he is not where we think he is.

This is a story that tells us at the very least that God, the really real, cannot be captured by anything: not by death, not by a tomb, not by religion, not by technology, not by any philosophy of truth. God cannot be packaged and marketed for popular tastes and consumption, no matter how user-friendly and entertaining the purveyor of religion tries to make it. But because we live in a free-market world that has been constructed to satisfy our personal preferences, we begin to imagine that even God exists to satisfy our personal needs. In a world where we can customize our ring tones, our faces, our spouses, our children, and our religion, we come to expect that even God can be customized for our own purposes.

Whatever else it may be, however, this story of Jesus’ resurrection is not about maintaining our control and living with a positive attitude despite the stresses and strains of modern life. The women who encountered the empty tomb didn’t go home and take on a new attitude that things would turn out okay in the end for those who believe; they didn’t just decide to start looking on the bright side of things. No, they fled in terror and amazement and didn’t tell anyone about what they had seen. This is a story that interrupts our usual notions and expectations of the way things are supposed to be. We don’t have any control over this story, and the ending is left open.

The phrase “resurrection from the dead” literally means, “coming alive from out of dead things”. It’s the picture of one who “stands up from the midst of corpses”. It’s a coming alive, a waking up from sleep, a standing up to walk in compassion with others who are different and vulnerable. The story of the resurrection is a very particular gift to each and every one of us. It’s a gift we need. Without it, our lives can be dominated by fear of others, or intimidated by death, and this fear isolates and divides—it locks us up in our own notions and tribes, stifling our capacity to love and appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of each and every other.

This season of the resurrection is a powerful time to come together. The Front Porch offers a distinctive public celebration of the Christian tradition’s “coming alive” for all in the Austin community on Saturday evening, April 15th at 8pm, at Scholz Garten. HERE IS THE RSVP LINK. And here are just some of the artists: Sam Baker, Rabbi Neil Blumofe, Meesha Akbar, Shinyribs, Body Rock ATX with Riders Against the Storm, Jimi Calhoun, Sherry Gingras and the Djembabes, Gregory Eaton, Brant Pope, Chucky Black. There will drums, improv, slam poetry, singer-songwriters, dance, a 2nd Line jazz band, and more. Come celebrate with us and dance until midnight Easter Eve!